Wednesday, 5 October 2016

even just spooning out of the jar when you're feeling a bit naughty (come on, haven't you?). It can also be an interesting addition to curries and soups. Whatever you do with your PB (we won't judge you), you may be wondering what's in the jar. I've broken down the ingredients in just 3 of the easily available brands from my town.

Sun-Pat Smooth Peanut Spread - boasting 95% peanuts, it turns out that the other 5% is made up of: stabiliser (E471), cane sugar, peanut oil and sea salt.

Slightly bad news for vegans or Muslims - E471 is mainly produced from vegetable oils, although animal fats may be present. There is a chance of pork fat also being present; so E471 is best avoiding when you can't know for sure that it is entirely from from vegetable oil. There's sugar, which may or may not really need to be in there, but the good news is there's no palm oil!

Marks and Spencers' Crunchy Peanut Butter - only 91% peanuts in this one, with the rest being from sunflower oil, palm oil, cane sugar and sea salt.

Dextrose is another name for glucose, and is a type of sweetener made from plant starch. Vegetable oil could also be palm oil, as there's no requirement to label palm oil as such.

Of course, there are some brands of peanut butter that contain 99% or more peanuts, which you can find pretty easily online (for example, Holland and Barrett stocks Meridian peanut butter, which is £5.99 for a 1000g tub), but I decided to test out my new food processor and make my own!

What you need:

Peanuts (ideally unsalted, in their skins)

A drizzle of honey

Optional - a splash of peanut (groundnut) oil

Step 1: Spread the peanuts onto a baking tray. DON'T use foil, as I did, because the peanuts will stick to it

and take ages to remove! Drizzle some honey on them and place under a grill at around 120C for 10-15 minutes.

2: Remove and let cool for 5 miutes.

3. Throw into the food processor and switch it on! As with Cashew nut butter, the trick is to leave the food processor on for a minute or so, turn it off, scoop the peanuts back onto the blades and keep going. It will seem to take ages but eventually your mixture will start to become a little less like powder and more like butter.

4. If you're struggling, add a splash of peanut oil. This will make the blending process go a little more smoothly.

5. Pour into a cleaned out jar and enjoy! This particular peanut butter was smooth but a little gritty, which I came to really like. If you're struggling to spread it, you can add a little more oil or honey.

Search

What is Greenjoy?

Helping you live a happier, simpler life that's good for you, those around you and the planet.

I believe we need to reconnect with our authentic selves, with each other, and with nature. I use Positive Psychology to look at how we can achieve true happiness, while finding practical ways to live more sustainably and simply.